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DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA, SRI LANKA.

EE 5201
Sensors and Actuators for
Automation
Lecture 2: Sensors I

Dr. Damith Chathuranga

Senior Lecturer

Applications
Module content Sensors for Automation
(Force, Position,
Temperature
measurement etc.)
Terminology

Advanced Sensor
Concepts (Tactile sensors,
MEMS Sensors etc.)

Sensors and
Actuators for Sensors Signal processing and
Automation control

Electric Actuators

Actuators Hydraulic Actuators

Pneumatic Actuators

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Selecting a sensor for an application

Environmental factors Economic factors Sensor characteristics

Temperature range Cost Accuracy

Humidity Life time Range

Size Availability Stability

Corrosion Repeatability

EM interference Response time

Ruggedness Linearity

Power consumption Resolution

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Type of Sensors / transducers

• Displacement, position and proximity sensors

• Binary position measurement (Proximity sensors)
• Analog sensors
• Velocity and motion
• Force
• Fluid pressure
• Liquid flow/level
• Temperature
• Light intensity
• Other type of sensors: Chemical sensors, Humidity sensors

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Proximity sensors - Binary position

measurement
• Usually digital (on/off) sensors detecting the presence or absence of an object
• Widely used in general industrial automation
e.g. In conveyor lines, in machine tools
• The sensors generally consist of:
• Sensor head: optical, inductive, capacitive
• Detector circuit
• Amplifier
• Output circuit: TTL

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Proximity sensors - Binary position

measurement (continued…)
binary sensors

•micro-switch +cheap, -wear, bouncing

•optical sensor +reliable, -dust or liquid sensitive

•magnetic sensor +dust-insensitive, - magnetic

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Proximity sensors - Binary position

measurement (continued…)
binary sensors

•micro-switch +cheap, -wear, bouncing

•optical sensor +reliable, -dust or liquid sensitive

•magnetic sensor +dust-insensitive, - magnetic

Reed switch

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Proximity sensor

Detecting a bottle for stamping

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Displacement, position and proximity sensors

(Analog sensors)
• Potentiometers
• Variable induced transducers
• Eddy current proximity sensors
• Capacitive element sensors
• Strain-gauged element sensors
• Optical encoders
• Pneumatic sensors
• Hall effect sensors
• Ultrasonic sensors

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Potentiometers

• Potentiometer, also known as ‘pot’, is an active displacement

transducer.
• Made from a uniform coil of wire or a film of high resistive material
(carbon, platinum, conductive plastic etc.).
• The resistance must be proportional to its length.
• Displacement of sliding arm (wiper arm) is proportional to the output
voltage.

Linear potentiometer
Rotary potentiometer
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Potentiometers (continued…)
• Output 𝒗𝟎 = 𝒌. 𝒙 only on open circuit.

Schematic diagram
(open circuit)

Loading effects

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Potentiometers (continued…)
• Resistance of the potentiometer:
• High resistance is preferred in order to reduce power dissipation.
• High power dissipation causes higher operating temperatures and in turn increases
wear and tear at the sliding contact.
• But high resistance makes output impedance to be high too, causing loading
• Typically, R = 10Ω to 100kΩ.
• Conductive plastics has r ≈ 100 Ω/mm, less friction, less wear, better resolution.

Conductive plastic potentiometers Angular position sensor

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Rectilinear potentiometer

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Rotary (angular) potentiometer

𝑽𝟎 = 𝒌. 𝚯
This is the most
commonly used
type of pot.

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Loading effects
• When signal conditioning/ measuring devices
are connected to a pot loading errors occur.
• Consider the rotary pot shown.


R  Rc (1)
 max

• Current balance at sliding contact,

vref  vo vo vo
  (2)
Rc  R R RL

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Loading effects (continued…)

Where RC is the total resistance of the potentiometer coil. Multiplying eq (2) by
RC and using the first equation,

vref  vo vo v
 Ro
1    max 
 max
L
Rc

By rearranging the terms, we get

vo
 R
 max RL Rc 
vref  L Rc     max     max 2

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Loading effects (continued…)

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Loading effects (continued…)

• Loading non-linearity error is defined by,
vo
vref    max
e 100%

 max

Load resistance ratio Percentage error at mid point*

(RL/Rc) (e)
0.1 -71.4%

1.0 -20.0%

10.0 -2.4%

* Note that mid point is not where the max. error occurs.

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Loading effects (continued…)

• To reduce loading errors,
• Increase the ratio RL/Rc .
• Increasing RL will make output imp to be large.
• Reducing Rc will make heat dissipation to go up.
• Use the pot within a small range at the beginning of its scale.
• One disadvantage is that output voltage would be small.

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Potentiometers
• Advantages
• Very inexpensive,
• Simple to operate,
• Small in size,
• No signal amplification necessary.
• Disadvantages
• Mechanical loading on the measurand is relatively high (i.e., the force
needed to move the sliding arm).
• Undesirable temp. rise due to heat dissipation in the coil.

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Potentiometers
• Disadvantages (continued…)
• High frequency or transient measurements are not feasible due to slider bounce,
friction and inertia.
• Finite resolution in coil type pots (percentage resolution is given by 100/No. of
turns).
• In film type pots, resolution is limited by mechanical backlash and S/N ratio.
• Variation in reference voltage causes errors. We require a highly stable voltage
source.

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Potentiometers
• An example:
• A coil type rotary potentiometer is required to measure a range of angles from
zero to 1800 with an accuracy of ¼0 degree. If the coil is wound on a torroid of
2cm inner radius and 1cm thickness, calculate
(i) The least number of turns required
(ii) The gage (diameter) of the wire
(iii) Total resistance of the coil if the resistivity of the eire is 4μΩcm.

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Break!!!

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Variable inductance transducers

• Displacement or motion transducers that employ the principle of
electromagnetic induction are known as variable inductance
transducers.
• The change in magnetic flux linkage caused by a relative motion
between two coils is measured in this type of sensors.
• Variable reluctance transducer: same as variable inductance type
except that they use a non magnetized ferromagnetic medium to
alter reluctance of flux path.

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Variable inductance transducers (continued…)

• Three (3) primary types of variable inductance transducers:

• Mutual inductance transducer
• Self induction transducer
• Permanent magnet transducer
• Mutual inductance devices have a primary coil and a secondary coil
while self induction devices have only a single coil. Permanent
magnet devices use a permanent magnet in place of the primary coil.

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Linear Variable differential transformer (LVDT)

• Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT)
• Measures displacement using the principle of mutual induction between two
coils carrying alternating current.
• Overcomes most of the shortcomings of potentiometer.
• Considered as a passive transducer since the measurand (i.e. displacement)
provides the energy for the change in output voltage induced on the
secondary.
• LVDT is a variable reluctance transducer of mutual induction type.

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LVDT (continued…)

A collection of commercially available LVDTs.

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LVDT (continued…)

Construction details of a commercially available LVDT.

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LVDT (continued…)

Schematic diagram of an LVDT.

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LVDT (continued…)

Typical operating curve of an LVDT.

RMS value of the output voltage is plotted in the above curve. The direction of
displacement is given by the phase angle of the o/p voltage w. r. t. primary
voltage.

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LVDT (continued…)

• LVDT is more accurate than a potentiometer but far more expensive.

• Operation:
• Primary is energized by an ac supply of voltage.
• The two secondary coils are connected in series but opposing each other
such that the net induced voltage is zero when the core is centered (null
position).
• When the core is displaced from the null position a net induced voltage
appears at the output.

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LVDT operation (continued…)

• For an LVDT to measure time varying displacement, the carrier frequency

(i.e., the frequency of the primary supply) has to be at least 10 times higher
than highest frequency content of the measurand.

• The sensitivity and accuracy improve with increasing carrier frequency. For
most low frequency measurements, 50Hz ac supply is adequate.

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LVDT operation (continued…)

An equivalent circuit of an LVDT

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LVDT operation (continued…)

• LVDTs with built in electronics for signal conditioning (oscillator for carrier frequency
generation and demodulation circuit for output signal generation) are commonly
available today.

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Advantages of LVDTs
• Non contact device. i.e. no friction, no wear out.
• No mechanical backlash. i.e. high precision.
• Low output impedance (< 100Ω)
• Directional measurements possible.
• Small, simple and robust construction. Much more durable than
potentiometers.
• Fine resolutions are possible.

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Rotary type (RVDT)

• RVDTs are used for measuring
angular displacement.
• The rotating core is shaped such
that a wide linear operating
region is obtained.
• The linear range is typically ±400 .

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Rotary type (RVDT)

Operating curve of an RVDT

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LVDT Specs.
Supply Requirements: 0.5 VAC to 7 VAC (RMS), 2 to 10 kHz
sinusoidal
Calibrated Supply (Excitation): 5 VAC (RMS) at 5 kHz sinusoidal
Armature: Spring-extended
Linearity (% error of full scale, worst case): ±0.5% (±0.25%
and ±0.1% linearity are optional on some models)
Phase Shift: Typically 10° at 5-VAC, 5-kHz excitation
Output Load (optimum): 100 kΩ
Temperature Coefficient (Zero and Span): ±0.01% of full
scale/°C (±0.005% of full scale/°F)
Operating Temperature Range: -20° C to +125° C (-4° F to
+257° F)
Electrical Termination: 6.5 ft. (2 m) shielded cable

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Mutual induction proximity sensor

Primary winding is in the middle limb. The two secondary windings are
connected in additive polarity.

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Mutual induction proximity sensor

• Primarily used in applications such as:
• Control of gap between robotic welding torch head and the work surface.
• Gaging the thickness of metal plates in manufacturing of sheet metals.
• Detecting surface irregularities in machined parts.
• Level detection in filling, bottling and chemical industries.

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Resolver
• A mutual induction type transducer widely used for measuring angular
displacements.
• The rotor contains a two pole winding which carries the primary ac supply.
• Also, the rotor is directly coupled to the object whose rotation is to be
measured.

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Resolver
• The two output signals of the resolver are termed quadrature signals.
Demodulated signals provide the speed of rotation and its direction.

vo1  avref cost

vo 2  avref sin t

By differentiating,

vo1  avref  sin t

vo 2  avref  cost

Hence,
  vo 2 vo1 and    vo1 vo 2

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Permanent magnet type

Linear velocity sensor

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Permanent magnet type

DC tachometer generator

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Eddy current transducer

Eddy current proximity sensor

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Eddy current transducer (continued…)

Eddy current proximity sensor – impedance bridge

• Compensating coil is identical to active coil.

• Bridge is supplied with 1MHz to 100MHz supply.
• Suitable for measuring transient displacements.

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Capacitive displacement sensors

Capacitive rotation sensor Capacitive displacement sensor

C = k.θ C = k/x

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Capacitive displacement sensors (continued…)

Inverting amplifier for linearizing the capacitive displacement sensor

Charge balance at point A,

vref Cref  voC  0

Since C = k/x

vref Cref
vo  x
k
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Capacitive angle measurement

A
C=ε ≈a
d

movable

capacitance is evaluated by
modifying the frequency of
an oscillator
a

fixed

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Small position measurement: strain gauges

Principle: the resistance of a wire with resistivity ρ increases when this wire is stretched:

A
l' 𝜌𝑙 𝜌𝑙 2
𝑅= = ∝ 𝑙2
𝐴 𝑉
ρ = resistivity

l"
Volume 𝑉 = constant, r = constant

measurement in bridge
R1 R3 (if U0 = 0: R1R4 = R2R3)
measure

Uo
U temperature compensation
by “dummy” gauges
R2 R4
compensation frequently used in buildings, bridges,
dams for detecting movements.

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Principle of optical angle encoder

Optical encoders operate by means of a grating that moves between a light source and a
detector. The detector registers when light passes through the transparent areas of the grating.
For increased resolution, the light source is collimated and a mask is placed between the grating
and the detector. The grating and the mask produce a shuttering effect, so that only when their
transparent sections are in alignment is light allowed to pass to the detector.
An incremental encoder generates a pulse for a given increment of shaft rotation (rotary
encoder), or a pulse for a given linear distance travelled (linear encoder). Total distance travelled
or shaft angular rotation is determined by counting the encoder output pulses.
An absolute encoder has a number of output channels, such that every shaft position may be
described by its own unique code. The higher the resolution the more output channels are
required.

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Incremental angle encoder

open mounted

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Absolute digital position: Gray encoder

binary code: if all bits were to change at about the same time: glitches
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
0000
0001
LSB
0010
0011
0100
0101
MSB 0110
0111
…
Gray code: only one bit changes at a time: no glitch
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
0000
0001
LSB 0011
0010
courtesy Parker 0110
Motion & Control
0111
MSB 0101
0100
Gray disk (8 bit)

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When to use encoders

• Require accurate position information
• 10,000 line incremental
• 360 line absolute
• Digital feedback loops
• Compact and reasonably rugged (not as good as inductive)
• Linear encoders are also available

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